Day 98: Friends

Being grateful for my friends:

I’m sure you’ll agree that friends enrich our lives. We support and inspire, console and motivate, have each other’s back, and believe in each other.

Whether it’s a giggle over something silly, or a pour-your-heart-out kind of chat, friends comfort each other during tough times, and are there to celebrate the good times.

And what’s more, they know you and still love you!

I feel so blessed to have had some amazing friends throughout my life so far. I am truly grateful for every single one: longstanding and new, young and young-at-heart, near and far, lost and found.

Friends can really feel like family: they’re the family we choose for our ourselves.

I came to realise this even more so having lived in various places around the world. Having to start from scratch quite a few times, it’s not easy and can be pretty lonely at first. But slowly and surely, friendships form and blossom.

But then it’s heartbreaking when one of us – which usually happens to be nomadic ole me – moves on and we have to say goodbye.

So that’s why I say, thank goodness for technology!

I am forever grateful to be able to stay in touch via Skype and FaceTime. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how incredible is it to sit and have a face-to-face catch up over a cuppa with a friend on the other side of the country or the world!

And while I’m not a huge user of Facebook, I’m glad to have it so I can have a quick scroll through friends’ pages now and again to see what they’ve been up to.

I have to confess, I used to be doubtful how you could make real true friends through social media. But thankfully my eyes, and heart, have been opened thanks to the amazing Happier app. This like-minded community filled with kind-hearted, happy souls make me smile every day and I’ve formed some truly special life-long friendships. Even though we haven’t met in person yet – and I stress the yet as I know it will happen – I know that these friendships are just as real and just as true.

While new friendships are all shiny and exciting, I’m really sad to have lost connection with friends from the past, as we both moved on or grew apart. But I’ve come to accept that this is part of life.

As with any relationship, they can be difficult and challenging at times, but hopefully you can work through it together and come out stronger.

Sadly, there are some friends we have to let go of, or they let go of us. No matter how painful it is when this happens, I try and remind myself to be grateful for all that we’ve shared together. And whenever I think of them to remember to smile and send them love ♡.

Having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome makes it frustratingly difficult to stay in touch and keep friendships going. As much as I want to connect, the nature of my symptoms make it a challenge.

It’s safe to say I’m reliably unreliable when it comes to making plans for a get-together be it in person or via technology. I find I have to reluctantly cancel planned chats at the last minute, due to not feeling well enough. And this is really upsetting and I never feel great about it.

But my friends are always in my thoughts and in my heart, and I hope they know that. I hope once I’m well enough, we can reconnect and make up for lost time.

I just love how great friendships are those where you can simply pick up where you left off, even though you haven’t spoken for a while.

And I know that we are always there for each other. After all, that’s what friendship is all about, isn’t it.

So with this in mind, my happy for today is being grateful for my friends.